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Why you Should Watch the J-Drama Trick

Recently I had a friend who started studying Japanese, wanting to know if J-drama was worth watching, ask me a favor. He wanted me to prove him the interesting nature of J-drama with one scene. Not one genre. Not one series. Not even one episode. But one scene. That’s a pretty big responsibility. That’s like saying, “prove to me movies are good by showing me one scene from one movie.”

So what did I do? Find a new friend? Yes. But before that, I tried to find a scene from one of my all time favorite J-dramas. And it had to be a scene that would stand on its own, without knowing anything about the story or characters.

Something comedic would work best, because one scene can be funny and memorable even despite not knowing anything else.

So what did I come up with? A scene that would convince someone to start enjoying the world of J-dramas (not that I know why someone needs to be convinced to do that).

This is a scene from Trick 3 (or was it 2?), one of the funniest, legendary J-dramas of all time. If this doesn’t do it, I don’t know what will. Then again, I’m partial. I’ve seen all three seasons, the movies, and read the novels. Maybe this sucks.

But that’s where you guys come in. What’s your “J-drama Best One-Scene.” If you were given the same request as me (which you are now), what would you show? (If you have a YouTube link, include it.)

Comments

Why you Should Watch the J-Drama Trick — 4 Comments

It’s the small things that get me excited: like the very beginning of No Con Kid, when Reiji wonders what the beautiful girls name is – and Kido tells him his name, because he happens to stand there :)

Hah, I haven’t watched Trick (whichever season that was) in at least three years, but I knew exactly which scene that was in the first second because even now it still pops up in my head from time to time. I couldn’t stop at one scene and these are only scenes I could find on YouTube, but five is better than one and anyway you shouldn’t feel limited to picking just one thing if you have enough rope or duct tape.

I think Legal High is also a great gateway drama because it presents itself as a lighter, fun and simple show, then cranks up the acting and writing to blow you away.

Okay, maybe fifteen minutes isn’t a “scene”, but Change is a great show and episode 5 in its entirety may be the most perfectly crafted piece of comedy I’ve ever seen: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qb1IKtlZqGI

The cinematography, the facial expressions, body language, dialogue, everyone in every shot is doing something to make you laugh. It’s like watching a clock work, except the clock is made of comedy. Plus look at all the Japanese cultural tidbits you can see in just that clip!